Tell-Tale Heart essay

Tell Tale Heart is a short horror story by E.A. Poe that is told from the first person perspective and describes the murder of an old man. The main character plots the crime because he (supposing the narrator is male) is irritated by the old man’s “evil eye”. The narrator kills the old man in his sleep, dismembers the body and hides the corpse parts under the floorboards. The main character is not suspected until he confesses the murder to the police believing everyone can hear the beating of the dead man’s heart from under the floor. Tell-Tale Heart is not a confession but an apology. The murderer tries to prove that the hideous crime, no mater how irrational it might seem to the readers, was planned and carried out in the calculated and premeditated manner. The narrator tries to convince the readers that he was conscious of his motives, actions, and intentions. What is more, he stresses that there was no trace of permanent or temporary mental disorder, let alone insanity. However, the choice of the point of view, tone and mood of the Tell-Tale Heart allow Poe to create the opposite effect and convince the readers that the story is an account of a madman. The psychological effect of the first-person narrative, the tone and symbolism let Poe enhance the gruesome effect of the story. The point of view chosen by Poe also makes readers feel as if the insane narrator addresses every reader personally. A vide range of stylistic devices is employed to make the story frightening from the very beginning.

“TRUE! – nervous -very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe 3). In the opening line Poe chooses the mode of narration that determines the structure of the whole story. The Tell-Tale Heart i...

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...tion and possible justification of the narrator’s crime, the dramatic impact of the short story is intensified. As the story unfold the narrator makes several attempts to change the point of view from “I - the criminal” to “I – the nervous storyteller” and detach himself from the events of the story inviting the readers to become witnesses and accomplices. In the story close connection between the choice of language, tone, symbolism and the mental state of the narrator is traced. Vivid descriptions of visual and aural perception of the narrator, which are reflected in the story’ symbolism, amplify the dramatic effect. In the circumstances the pulsation of the heart becomes the only tangible component of the narrative giving the pulsation to the whole text and leading to the revelation. The story ends abruptly intensifying the impression of the account of a madman.